Stewards and friends of the Shrine are encouraged to donate to the Parish safely and securely through the options provided below. Each gift made to the Parish is received with gratitude and will be used by our community and/or the Theophileon Brotherhood appropriately and as designated. Please contact the Church Office with questions.

General Account

Donated funds to this account assist the Parish with operational needs as well as with special projects as discerned by the clergy and the Parish Council.

Stewardship

These gifts of treasury support the operational budget of the Parish. Ideally, each and every Orthodox Christian community sustains her ministries fully through the offerings of the faithful who regularly offer a tithe, the Scriptural and traditional gift of 10% asked of us by God. Stewards are encouraged to utilize the option of making a regular or reoccurring - weekly, monthly, quarterly - gift to the Church.

Capital Campaign

Donations to the Capital Campaign are designated for our Building Program. Unless otherwise noted, these “Sacrificial Gifts” made by our stewards and friends of our community assist us with paying off existing debt and/or to fund the construction of the future Sanctuary.

Memorial Donations

Donations may be made in honor of friends or family members who have fallen asleep in the Lord. Unless noted, these monies are used at the discretion of the clergy to purchase icons and liturgical items for the Parish. Please note in the memo, the name of the servant of God who has reposed so that they may be included in our prayers.

The Theophileon Brotherhood, the Skete of Saint Anna, Mount Athos

The Theophileon Brotherhood of the Skete of Saint Anna is a cherished brotherhood of the Holy Mountain. We remain forever indebted to their great benevolence for gifting to us the Holy Relics of St. Joachim and Anna. Moreover, they continue to pray for our Parish as well as for those individuals who are in specific spiritual, physical or emotional need and those couples who desire to have children. Donated monies are forwarded to the brotherhood to be used at their discretion, unless otherwise noted.

About Christian Stewardship

A Christian steward is a person who responsibly manages his/her time, talents, possessions and self. The faithful and wise steward is the one who knows that the Master has set him in charge of His household and gives him his portion of food at the proper time (Luke 12:42).

Stewardship embraces every area of life. It calls on us to realize that we are not owners of our time and talents. We are stewards, called to manage these gifts for a brief time, always responsible to the God Who entrusts them to us.

It is inappropriate for God’s Church to beg for offerings of time, talent, or treasury. Each of us should give because we need to give, we need to express to God our gratitude for His countless blessings to us. We give because we need to acknowledge practically in our lives with such concrete things as our time, talents and possessions that God does indeed come first; that He deserves the first and the best portion of all that I am and possess.

Offerings of Time

The Greek word for time is kairo. Its usage in the Septuagint suggests a “decisive point of time”. As for the righteous of the Old Testament, they were blessed to wisely discern that all points of time are given by God. In its New Testament usage, kairo is given intensity by Jesus and the moral teachings of Paul. “Decisive points in time” are ever reoccurring in the Christian life and must be recognized and actualized.

Our time should be wisely spent. We should find ourselves in Divine Services throughout the week (on time!) offering our supplications and our thanksgiving. We should find opportunities to study and grow in our faith. We should fellowship in filial love. We should minister to those in need. To neglect or deny the significance of our time in relation to our salvation is ultimately remaining blind to God’s will.

Offerings of Talent

Talent, is best understood as gifts of the Holy Spirit, “charismata.” Some of these gifts are spiritual manifestations, bestowed through the anointing with Holy Chrism, while others are gifts that are bestowed through the laying on of hands in the Rite of Ordination. It is this continuous presence of the Spirit that makes possible the constant, progressive, personal growth of the Christian into the image and likeness of God.

In God’s wisdom, we were all created to be different in our abilities and talents. The purpose of our unique, personal gifts, as attested by Scripture, is for the benefit of all. In this way the Church is built up as the Body of Christ of which we are all members. As for each member, each is equally as important as the next for the overall life and working of the body. The challenge is to not only discern God-given gifts, but also to employ them to His Glory.

Offerings of Treasure

In making our financial gifts to the Church, we are not paying for something. Just like our homes, we don’t pay for the meals we eat or the rooms in which we sleep; we don’t pay wages to anyone for services. We simply provide all the things necessary for our home to function efficiently and respond to the physical needs of the entire family. The same is true with the Church. We provide all the things necessary for the Church to function efficiently, to respond to the spiritual needs of all the members of the Body of Christ.

Our hope each and every year is to meet our operating budget through our financial gifts. In order to achieve this goal, we ask our families to follow the Biblical directive of tithing (10% of one’s treasurers). It’s important though not to forget that Jesus was not interested in 5%, 7% or even a tithe; He was interested in 100% of the person.